Speaking of Liberace, we couldn’t not post this late 1950s photo of the Riviera in Las Vegas for today’s carspotting scene, now could we? Unfortunately, we don’t see any of Liberace’s cars in this parking lot scene that we came across on Dreaming the Skyline, UNLV’s photo collection (which wouldn’t be much of a challenge – you could spot Liberace’s cars from miles away), but there’re still plenty of interesting cars here. What do you see?

The Nevada license plate on the Mercury is a 1954, with the red sticker that extended the plate’s use to 6/30/55; Nevada would use a 6/30 expiration for nine years after that. The rather short black on yellow plate on the Cadillac must then be a 1955 Nebraska, and the photo date would be in the first half of 1955.

I see the back of a late 1940′s Oldsmobile fastback that’s missing its fender skirt, a 1954 Oldsmobile behind that, a 1955 Buick hidden in the bushes in the driveway, and a 1954 Caddy behind the signposts.

I was forced to stay at the Riv 10 years ago for the SEMA show. Our boss was one immense cheapskate. I don’t think the room I had was remodeled since this photo was taken!
Q: Hasn’t it been torn down by now?

I always liked those Mercurys. When I was a kid in the early 60s those and the ones immediately after were popular second-owner “cool guy” cars. Lots of fender skirts, loud pipes and those inexplicable “sleepy eye” chrome headlight covers. To this day, I’m not sure what that was about.

……for teens like us, it was all about the sound (Hollywoods), and the “look”(especially the “stance”, although we didn’t use that expression back then)……… and in the early 50′s Ford had both in spades as far as young guys were concerned…..
…….it has duals and skirts, so that Merc’ll work for me…….unusual color combo. pale yellow, dusky rose roof, and buckskin interior……if it’s a ’53, it’s also the last flathead, at least in the US.

I clicked on the link and was able to zoom and scroll. Some construction work going on. A couple of pickup trucks on the right near the building. I see a 5 window Chevy or GMC. It has a vent window in the door and it is hard to see but it looks like the early style (turn vs. push button) door handle so that would make it a 51.

Back in the days when the mob ran Las Vegas!My parents (and grandparents) said it was safer to walk around at night when they were in charge and you could leave your car unlocked.
Anybody that harrassed the tourists in those days just, kind of, disappeared.

I love Bruce T.’s understated mob comment! Reminds me of the hired corporate thugs to break down the union movement during the 30′s. They were winning the war until Hoffa reluctantly agreed to mob help, then the mob guys sent the corporate thugs packing. Or the U.S. government deal with Luciano to keep the NY docks free of Nazi saboteurs during WW2. Funny how that works.

Liberace, who indeed preferred to be called “Lee” (and I don’t know this from the movie but mutual friends) had a loaded black 1954 Cadillac Eldorado at this time. His Eldorado had specially-trimmed seats and Ohio license plates. As I recall, the tops of the backrests of the seats were done up like piano keys.

In the lot photo here to the left behind shrubbery appears to be a 1954 Buick hardtop. Right behind the Riviera sign I see what appears to be a 1954 Cadillac, partially blocked of course. Beyond that appears to be a Lincoln convertible with what seem to be two more GM cars to the right of it. Of course the two vehicles to the right in the foreground are what appears to be a 1953 Cadillac and Mercury… with a Buick sedan next to the Merc. In front of the Merc appears to be a 1954 Packard Clipper.

By the way, while it was still fairly rare, there were a number of cars with aftermarket A/C in the town at this time… and they usually didn’t have outside air scoops.

This was certainly the heyday of the Riviera which still looks like they have not moved all of the construction equipment away yet in this pic.

Lee was the opening act at the hotel’s debut and indeed was their headliner. He was paid the highest salary of any entertainer at that time in Las Vegas. And yes, George was his brother who played the violin on Lee’s very popular television show as well as led the band in Vegas. The Treniers (also shown here on the marquis) were also one of the biggest acts in Las Vegas at the time. However, because of racial discrimination policies (then the rule in Las Vegas), they were not allowed to stay in the hotel or to use any of the facilities in the hotel or casino–and had to leave the building immediately after their shows.

One block north of here was the famous (at that time) Thunderbird Casino. In the 1950s in Las Vegas, there was always a running argument as to which came first… Ford’s Thunderbird… or Las Vegas’s Thunderbird. And which influenced the name of the other.

Right below the right lower corner of the sign, way in the background is the rarest car on the whole lot. it’s a 1953 Packard Carribean in dark blue with an off-white top. I spotted the rest of the Packards too. As the past owner of a 1953 Packard Mayfair, this one was hard to miss. The chrome over the rear wheel was the tip off for me. Too bad we can’t see the wire wheels.

Blue pole (Liberace sign) 54 Cadillac, across we have a 47/8 two tone Buick fast back, next to it a 55 Olds. In the drive we have a 55 Buick followed by a 54 Chrysler. Parked in the clear we have a 53 blue Cadillac, next to a 53 Mercury. In front of the Merc. is a two tone 53 or 54 Packard Clipper. Behind the Packard a pink 55 or 56 Ford.